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Jordan: The Elements of a Growth Strategy. Ricardo Hausmann, Tim O’Brien, Miguel Angel Santos, 2019, Paper, “In the decade prior to the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, Jordan enjoyed a period of impressive macroeconomic performance. The prolonged expansion was export-led, with total exports of goods and services tripling over that period. The boom was not only due to better prices for Jordan’s exports, as there were also significant gains in global market share of Jordan’s garment, agriculture and chemical exports. Throughout these years, the country ran large current account deficits that were largely financed by massive inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) coming from the United Arab Emirates, United States, India, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. By 2009, the size of total public debt was moderate, at 55% of the size of the economy. The Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009 and a series of subsequent negative external shocks affected Jordan in significant ways, throwing its economy out of balance. Conflict in neighboring countries led to reduced demand from key export markets and cut off important trade routes. FDI, which averaged 12.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) over the period 2003-2009, fell to 5.1% of GDP over the period of 2010-2017. At the same time, they brought a massive wave of migrants and refugees, resulting in a net population increase of 50.4% between 2008 and 2017.” Link

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